The Viciousness of child molestation in Jamaica

The BottomLine is that when I sat down to write this article I had every intention of writing about education still being a privilege in Jamaica, the miserable, overcrowded and wretched conditions in our government run primary schools and the exorbitant school fees being charged by the privately run prep schools in this country.

I had every intention of talking about our clueless universities in Jamaica – with their“insider” culture and the systems of exclusion of the communities and the societies which they scientifically research from afar…

I had every intention of talking about education and learning, and the uphill tasks we face in trying to meet the social, economic, health and climate challenges for the next decades as a result of our short-sightedness in our approach to learning and the production of knowledge.

The BottomLine however, is that I am deeply bothered by a trend in Jamaica, one that disturbs my conscious moments and one which I fear is threatening to destroy the future of this once great nation.

I speak to mothers especially. I want to talk about our baby girls and our preteen daughters and our teenage girls who are being molested and gang raped and sexually abused, by their fathers, their teachers, their classmates, the taxi drivers, the bus drivers and conductors, and the “big man dem inna dem communities” – including so called prominent citizens!

The BottomLine is that if we continue to turn a blind eye when our young babies are being raped, sodomized and molested, at the rate at which they are in Jamaica, then we too are guilty.

We are guilty of being watchers, witnesses to the destruction of the innocence of our nation and the annihilation of generations still to come!

The BottomLine is that if we refuse to do more than just lament and talk for nine days, when we hear of another horrific and brutal tale of rape and murder, or even suicide, then we are part of the problem!

The BottomLine is that I want to talk about rape and child molestation in Jamaica, this morning, I want to talk about our young girls who are being gang raped in schools and who are not getting the proper counseling or even the attention necessary as some schools seek to protect their reputations at the expense of our daughters.

I want to talk woman to woman, to our mothers and grandmothers and sisters. I want to talk to you mother, grandmother, auntie and god mother. I want to talk to us – who feel with our wombs, deeply and our spirits. I want to talk about rape and child molestation in Jamaica.

I want to talk about what we do when our daughters are gang raped, when our daughters identify the rapists as belonging to the very school which they attend .I want to talk about what we do when the education system tells us that the perpetrators are innocent until proven guilty and our daughters are sent back to the same school where their attackers are, to be ridiculed and taunted and raped again!!!!

I want to talk about what we do, because she is not our biological daughter, because she is not our niece. I want to talk about compassion, and anger and righteous indignation and revolution!!

I want to talk to you sister, about the justice system that puts our babies on trial again after they have been molested. I want to talk about a justice system that drags out a rape or molestation case for one year (sometimes two, sometimes three), until it frustrates our daughters into begging to make it stop.

The BottomLine is that, whether they want to put a spin on it or not, we know that we’ve never seen rape like we are seeing it now. We know that we’ve never seen our young babies batteried and gang raped as we are seeing now. We know that we have seen the face of something ugly and we ourselves are becoming afraid.

The bottom line is that, if the State will not stop them we must.

We must form strong support groups in every school, in every community, in every nook and cranny of Jamaica till this scourge is eradicated.

We must protect our daughters from pastors, politicians, Mr. Businessman, teachers, any Mr. Man who would seek to rape or molest them!

We must march if we have to, but we must also take action where we are, collectively. We must demand proper transportation systems to get our little ones to and from school and if the state will not do so, we must form support pools, that transport our daughters safely.

The BottomLine is that a lot of the rapes are happening on school compounds and if this is to stop it is our duty to demand that the boys (the rapists) who continue to get away with it, be publicly bought to justice (and swiftly too).

We must form stronger PTAs that not only seek to raise funds, but PTAs which patrol school compounds, bus stops, school routes, KFCs, Burger Kings, games rooms, internet cafes….

The BottomLine is that as women, mothers, sisters, grandmothers – we must all be responsible, for all our girls…..all of our boys…all of our children!

The bottom line is that our babies are also being molested in their homes, by their fathers, and uncles, and brothers….

Now, that is unforgivable. Women you know…..you know….

And where girls are being sexually abused and entire communities remain silent, I challenge you, for the sake of our daughters, bawl out!!! Speak out. Call the CDA, call the police. Tell somebody. For the sake of our girls and our country!

If we don’t break this ugly, vicious and horrible wall of silence, we are just as guilty as those who are carrying out the act…

It may be hard to hear….but that’s the BottomLine!

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The BottomLine is that when I sat down to write this article I had every intention of writing about education still being a privilege in Jamaica, the miserable, overcrowded and wretched conditions in our government run primary schools and the exorbitant school fees being charged by the privately run prep...

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I want to talk about the boys who are also being violated by fathers, family friends, trusted people and the shame accociated with them being marred, and the stigma of homosexuality attached to admitting being violated. I want to talk about all these things too, if fact, I have made reports and nothing has come of tyem. I want to talk about a corrupt system which allows the love of money and prestige in society to allow said molesters to walk proud and leave a trail of devastation and broken homes as they walk away…., only God can deliver this Nation this Land we love…

I think the problem with rape worldwide is that it is considered a female issue. It’s really a MALE issue, since they are the ones raping. There needs to be a huge worldwide campaign aimed at teaching boys not to rape, and teaching them very early and continuing the message throughout school. Parents need to teach their boys NOT TO RAPE and to RESPECT WOMEN. It needs to be a very blunt straight forward discussion. Until parents start taking responsibility for how they bring up their boys, this won’t stop. If parents haven’t talked to their sons about this, then they are the problem…have you talked to your Son???

Very passionate and worthy contribution. Well articulated and the upfront approach is well needed. Having said that….It is not just women we need to talk with. This is a conversation that includes men. Men have a peer culture of silence and complicity that needs to be addressed…they have a culture that says, “from the grass start fi grow any ball can kick”. While women play a role, we are not the ones to solve this scourge alone. By speaking only to women, or by having conversations only amongst ourselves, we absolve men of the role that they have played and their power which is wielded in this violence, will just perpetuate.

The glorification of slack and violent lyrics that have wreaked havoc in oue various medias.just to earn a fast dallar,by some of the most prominent citizens including some of our politicians,is sending a certain message to those with perverted minds that they are free to do as they please cause no one can do anything about it,it’s no use dealing with the problem from the middle or the top,come inna yuh throat,tek buddy gyal,etc,the latest big star is as slack as they come,what can we expect,if we undermine our culture for crop abd almshouse.

It’s great someone is finally addressing this issue, but addressing it is not all, what are people going to do about it? We need to empower our women to go out there and get a trade, get a job. Too often the money is so sweet, the children become second best. Secondly, everyone in power, i.e. doctors, teachers, police officers etc., should be held accountable as mandated reporters. There is no way a mother should take her child to the doctor, the child has contracted a STD and that info is not reported. There is no way when that matter is reported, that the perpetrator should not be arrested, and if the mother knows and do nothing, she should be arrested too.
And the children needs counselling instead of being left alone or berated.

Finally someone has to guts to speak up, where are our mps local government, community leaders they are everywhere when elections are to be held stop putting them in office they are not doing anything for our people

Are you going to address the mental health professionals who are not pushing to get these men of our society evaluated and identified? Because 9 times out of 10 the molester and rapist was himself molested or raped…there is a lot of sexual abuse of our boys that goes unchecked and then we wonder how these men grow up to turn rapist and child molester? There are a lot of mental illnesses running undiagnosed in our community and a lot of silent mothers yes that either love rent money and school fee money more than they love their child or in competition with the child for the man attention and blame her!